Vox AC30HW Limited Edition

[tedw]

Charlie,
A friend has lent me a Vox AC30HW Limited Edition amp. Do you know anything about these? It seems they were produced in very small numbers in the Marshall factory, but the only blurb I can find is an old Guitarist article of May 2003.

Listed retail was £2599 which seems a little rich for an all valve single channel amp with valve rectification.As a possible minus, it lacks the special EF86 channel. On the plus side though, this valve seems to have been replaced by Vox on account of unreliability on the road.

This is a beautiful sounding amp, the reverb is wonderful and the trem is so smooth. Should I be tempted at around the same price as listed retail priced Heritage AC30, on the basis that it is as rare as hen's teth or has the Far Eastern creation blown it out? Because of my age and its weight, I am desperately trying to resist that temptation, but the sound is killer!

Either way either it, or my Bletchley AC15 with Blues is going to come up for sale sooner or later.

Ted

[Mark Burton]

Ted

Is this the fawn / beige tolex model ??

If it is - I saw one for sale last week in Simply Guitars in New Milton, don't know what price - but worth giving them a call 01425 626070

regards
Mark

[tedw]

Hello Mark,

No, the beige tolex edition was a Korg creation in the '90's. Had a premium price but found little favour I think the guts were PCB's, it had solid state rectification and apparently the circuitry bore little resemblence to any of its predecessors. I have never heard one, and I am not sufficiently anorak to wish to argue the toss on the tonal differene if any between PCB and HW, but I am told the sound did not match the price differential over the bog standard models.

The HW edition that I am playing with, was allegedly a run of just 340 amps of which only 40 were given to UK distribution, and apparently no expense was spared.

Birch ply cabinet, black tolex covering with fawn Diamond grille cloth. At first sight it looks like any standard AC30 save for a small brass nameplate stating Limited hand wired edition in bottom RH corner of grille. Also, there is just a single channel with a pair of hi/lo imputs so the control panel looks rather different - especially with the addition of reverb and a master volume. Inside is a point to point turret board and the transformers are said to be hand wound. The sound is wonderful.

But it cannot have found too many takers at the time otherwise, like Fender, there would doubtless have been a re-run. Hard commerce usually wins the battle against purist ideals!

I am no spring chicken. Any AC30 is heavy and there is a big price differential. I am not really convinced that my own mediocre playing justifies the difference, and, dare I say it, I personally prefer the Fender sound - but I still would like this Vox.

Playing it in a mix - if I dared to gig it, then it would probably sound like just another classy Vox. Play it in contrlled conditions compared with a normal AC30, a Vox Tonelab pedal, or a solid state Session Stockton and you can hear a real difference. I haven't got a Heritage to compare it with.

[Charlie Hall]

I haven't tried or heard one but I would tend to think that the current Heritage models are a better amp and more affordable, unless there is a secondhand one going cheap.
Regards,
Charlie

[joeboy]

The AC30 Heritage that I almost purchased a couple of months ago was suppose to be a limited edition of only 500 made worldwide, that also was handwired. But that one came in a polished wood cabinet I think it was African Mahogany, it was a lovely looking piece if kit, & no doubt sounded good too

A shop in Wales located one for me & they were offering a very good price, Retail was up around what you mentioned & they were offering it to me for £1599 I think if my memory is correct!

So if you look hard enough you may find one, I kick myself now as I think I should have snapped it up as it would have been a good investment for the future

[tedw]

Thanks all for the responses: it has helped to assuage my lust!With regard to the last response, I think I would be cautious. Old valve amps may be at a premium, but that is because they were the contemporary gear used for the vintage rock n roll of yesteryear that we all love and try to emulate..

There seems nothing too exceptional and durable pop music -wise around at the moment. I grew up with rock n roll and I think we were conscious of living through a musical revolution which continued until the stadium bands became over pompous and the punk reaction set in. In any case, technology has moved on, digital is with us and is likely to be the future notwithstanding current reservations.

The vintage market is propped up by boring old farts (like me) with more money than sense, and a crazed snobbery for the real McCoy US made jobby. The world has changed and the youngsters know it even if the Yanks have not quite woken up to the fact yet. For the next decade or so, until caught out by increasing wage demands, equal quality and a lower price is going to be available from the Far East. (Witness the Heritage range at the trad end or the SuperChamp XD's and Vox Valvetronix at t'other.)

Let's face it, nobody has yet designed a better guitar than the strat or tele, the LP , SG or 335, but even then, it is the anoraks and collectors who pay the high prices. For most folks, a current production, probably non US version will do the same job at much lower cost - at least to the capacity of most of our skills.

That is guitars which are intrinsically beautiful compared with a box of electrical components. And electronics has moved forward dramatically. There is nothing wrong with nostalgia, but a '57 de luxe is a one trick pony, and most gigging musicians are playing in covers bands etc. and may stretch from Bill Haley to Van Halen and beyond. A limited edition Vox/Fenderwhatever is a nice to have appendage but I question whether there is true investment value there!. Aside from that, so much current music is being made via computers with never an amp cabinet in sight.

QED Charlie - I have probably answered my own question with a little wise help from my friends.

[joeboy]

You speak words of wisdom ;D

It's strange ... if there is something we want so badly but common sense asks 'Should we really buy it?' there are agonising days of trying to make our minds up, then the moment we have made our minds up to buy it suddenly it doesn't seem so important!

So we end up saying ... Nah!!! I don't really want it now !!

Be strong save your money! ;D

[tedw]

You are right Robert! See Items for Sale Board. I am having a clear out! Still left with plenty enough for my limited skills.

Ted

[joeboy]

Geez Ted, you certainly are having a clearout!

One or two items there I fancy myself, but if I spend any more money on music related gear I will be filed for divorce!! ... they just don't understand do they? ;D

[abstamaria]

I have one of these, Ted. It has a brass tag on it that says "limited edition" or something like that (I'm at the office). I had a hard time finding one then (about 3 years ago) but found a new one in the US. I suppose it is valuable because it may be the last hand-wired UK Vox. It is sweet.

I am quite lucky also to have a Heritage Vox 5oth anniversary AC30 (no children!), made I think in China as they all are now. The EF86 channel has a different sound and to my ears is closer to the early Shadows pieces. But listened to without the advantage of comparison, both sound great. I'm using the Heritage at a show tonight on the theory that it is more easily replaced than the limited UK AC30.

[tedw]

Hi Abstamaria,
Yes that sounds like the same model. It is very rare indeed if as Guitarist originally claimed only 340 were made with only 40 of those released in UK. Almost certainly is also the last UK made hand wired Vox. It is one hell of an amp in its own right, combining the best of old Vox with modern features.

But do those that yearn for old Vox want a more precise replica - i.e. the Heritage, and would those who want bundles of newer features like master volume and multi channels./effects necessarily go for this (expensive) single channel Vox?

I think Charlie is about right though with his original reply. Afficionados can debate forever whether hand wired is better than PCB and no doubt in years to come they will be arguing about whether British workers were more/less precise in their handling of a soldering iron than the Chinese!

Perhaps a major issue now is whether or not the Chinese are bound by the same regulations as the western world in terms of lead free solder. That daft ruling is surely almost certain to make for less reliability in future?

Anyway, if enough of my other self sells, I will probably take the AC30 off my old mate because it is certainly too heavy for him now. Even if I don't use it at gigs, it looks inspiring in the corner of the studio, and t does sound sweet at any volume!